Monday, May 5, 2014

New Streets: What the GM Can Do With Collaborative Campaign Creation

Last week I posted our group's use of Microscope for city-building in a new campaign.This coming weekend the players will actually sit down to do character creation and maybe get a scene or two in. Before that I have tweak a few elements of our homebrew, Action Cards (making the skill list fit the premise, organizing stunts, updating wizardry). On Sunday I sat down for a couple of hours to do some additional world building. I limited my time so I wouldn't go overboard. That's useful to keep a GM from spending too much energy on any part of the planning process (and a trick I've used before). I wanted to link some concepts from the Microscope session, tie up some loose threads, and expand on several of the ideas. In particular I hoped to give a little more shape to magic, the gods, and the surrounding world. It's always interesting to see how much room collaborative building leaves for the GM. You can still craft new ideas without violating anything the players established. There's joy and challenge in building on their creation.Below are twenty-three additional ideas about The City (which still needs a name...).

All magic has a significant cost- it damages those who cast
it. Wizards and sorcerers must be cautious or risk permanent damage to their
essence. Many who study the arts give up on it quickly because they cannot
handle the intense pain caused by casting. Mages who have practiced for years
become twisted by these practices: numb to pain, drugged up, channeling rage to
overcome the agony, etc. The creation of magic items is one way around this,
but even that act of creation taxes and drains those who lay down enchantments.
Bottom line: mages do not cast casually. Elder Magicks possess a great secret:
techniques for transferring the suffering, essence destruction, and energy cost
of casting to others- willingly and unwillingly.

Archon Lodort tried to create a census of the guilds,
brotherhoods, and livery companies who controlled affairs within the city. When
this proved untenable, he simply set a regulation and spent the next ten years
of his authority enforcing it. No more than three guilds covering the same area
of influence may exist anywhere within the city. This supposedly includes
otherwise underground groups such as the Thieves Guild, the Assassins, and the
Smuggler’s Rings. While this did not fully limit the number of these groups, it
had a practical effect. Trading or bargaining with a licensed Guild Member
means that you have some recourse to the law and authorities. If a Guild Member
cheats you, you can go to their Guild for relief or even to the higher courts. Mind
you, that may not always get you satisfaction. For a non-Guild agent, you have
to take matters into your own hands. Authorities in The City often look the
other way when Guilds strike out at successful non-Guild agents. Money carries
advantages.

Building styles shift across The City- as different eras
resulted in different approaches. Fires and earthquakes, however, allowed
for rebuilding in many places. But local superstitions about leaving something
behind mean that nothing’s ever completely demolished. You might wander
through the arches of a recent marble building crafted by a Thasaidos Imperator
and find yourself facing the primitive black-slab wall of a tower from the time
of the Yesherite Purge. One consistent feature is that the further one gets
away from the Archon’s Shadow, the denser the buildings are on single blocks.
On the other hand most main avenues and major streets are weirdly wide. These may still
have stalls, carts, and temporary wooden structures set up on them- narrowing
their width. This offers a challenge to those who wish to move across the city
by rooftops- they need to know where the best rope bridges, leaping points, and
makeshift walkways lie. It is also worth noting that the wells and water
sources are invariably in the middle of streets and intersections (rather than
within the city blocks).

The City is a massive, sprawling, and changeable mess- with
undulating roadways, densely connected neighborhoods traversed by rooftop
pathways, and layers of construction. Those who attempt to control the city
inevitably attempt to master the architecture of it through city
planning schemes, clearances, ambitious monuments, and grand works. More often
than not, these schemes are begun but remain unfinished. The Walls are perhaps the best example. Over the centuries, rulers
have attempted to build great defensive walls- each with a different logic.
These rarely get farther than a block of two before something halts the
project. They’re a hodge-podge- in some places creating weird mazes
and back alleys. Half-finished buildings litter the blocks, now occupied with
makeshift construction and repurposed for the actual lives of the locals.

Cults are numberless, but only three major pantheons can be
found everywhere- sometimes vying for control. The first of these are the gods
of the Thaisaidos Imperium, also known as The
Coiner Array. Each god in this pantheon has a key positive identity, but
also a twin representing the antithesis of those traits. These gods are often
represented by doubled images and circles (representing duality and cycles).
When they war the Thaisadosans bring local gods into their fold by creating
a twin for them. They’re more successful when they can take full control of sacred sites. Next are the gods of the Xylac Gatherings, also called the Nomad Gods. Originally they were the
gods of the Ancient Elves. They fought and defeated the incursions of other races, but there was a cost. The gods became a hybrid folk- changing their
appearance and role. Some of the Ancient Elves became the first of the Orcs.
The Nomad Gods represent change, wildness, and transformation. While they typically
avoid urban settings, the shifting nature of this city makes them less
uncomfortable. Finally the third pantheon is more scattered and
loosely affiliated. This is the Mirosane
Pantheon- made up entirely of gods and spirits attached to or affiliated
with water- lakes, rivers, storms, oceans, etc. It reaches across the whole of
the land and can be potent within its element, such as on the seas or even
islands.

Food can raise up or bring down those who control The City.
The enchanted cisterns and wells keep it supplied with clean water- making it
healthier than more urban centers. But it relies on the food production of the
settlements extending for miles and miles along the river delta and upriver. It
also imports a vast amount of food from other nations. A bad year for the
floods can result in severe shortages. Locals who have any kind of roof space
use that for gardens- which often results in roof collapses when a bad piece of unnatural weather strikes.

Gods sometimes grant powers to their followers. People have
many reasons for joining a faith: familial ties, professional attachment,
philosophical concern, revelation. Most faiths act, at least in part, as a
social and support network. Some invest more fully in their faith and in doing
so gain a connection and a contact with their deity. Through dedication, they
can gain a blessing or two to invoke. This is considered sign of status,
especially within smaller cults (especially those dedicated to a god of a
particular profession). Some press on to further develop that
connection. A church leader may be called a Priest without having access to
such gifts. Those who possess them usually have another title (Dedicant, High
Priest, Exemplar). They gain these gifts and clerical spells by giving
themselves over to their deity- figuratively and literally. Entering into such
a connection means giving the deity permission to control your destiny,
engineer your fate, and act through you. That can be a double-edged sword. Those
who push beyond this can become Avatars of their faith, a living vessel acting
out their god’s will.

How did the troubles and turmoil of the Gods' War end? None
know. But the many avatars, revolutionary forces, and divine agents who battled
across all the lands have not been seen in over a decade. It created many changes,
most importantly giving The City a chance to escape the yoke of Thasaidos.

If you travel across The City, you will walk up and down as
much as forward, or so the saying goes. Most sections are incredibly uneven. Low
rises and drops happen nearly everywhere. There are a few hills; mostly
this comes from post-earthquake shifts, the lay of the land, and how much The City
has simply built upon itself. The exception comes near the Archons’ Towers,
the merchant plazas, and the port areas. The steepest places often have
carefully managed stairs and stone slopes. The most experienced know how to get
from one place to another with the least uphill running.

Listen and obey the three Archons of The City. Their
authority and lineage stretches back through the ages, despite the loss of
formal records to attest to it. Who are the three Archons and what are their
interests? Archon Ubmar is known for
his dedication to the stability and status quo. He was instrumental in the most
recent re-founding of this great metropolis. Archon Lodosa Rhul has great ambitions- and hopes to finish the
refurbishment of the grand arena within her lifetime. Archon Ninglos the Seven Teared maintains his (?) privacy for his
researches. He most often acts and engages through his blue-coated agents.

Magic not of the gods falls into one of three categories:
magic, gutter or hedge magic, or Elder
Magick. The present system of magic developed in the centuries after the Ashsky Wars when sorcery shattered,
kingdoms sank, and the world nearly ended. Training usually comes from some version of
the Eight Branches of Magic. This include Crystal Thought, Forsaken Wisdoms,
Unbending Fires, and so on. How the schools exercise and appear varies from
place to place. Gutter or hedge magic represents fragmentary teachers or groups
who have taken a cutting from the tree of magic. They have skill with a small
set of talents- perhaps have even developed new techniques, but rarely expand
very far in their skill set. Some hedge mages work from an empowered focus or
may simply be exercising a natural gift. Hedge magic is usually raw and
unpatterned in execution. Elder Magick, on the other hand, is usually elaborate
and dangerous. It is a fragment of power which has somehow remained from before
the Ashsky War- in a book, an object, a place, or an idea. Elder Magick is
potent, but also has a will of its own…

Many neighborhoods- large and small- are not mentioned in
the city overview. For example: The Barracks: built by various
occupiers to house troops, The City’s distrust of a standing army means that it
has been broken up and doled out as a kind of warehousing district. Mirrormaze:
a weird series of back alley streets created by various abandoned construction
projects. The Zoo: An area dedicated to preparation of expeditions. It
includes adventuring supply shops (marked up), auctions for servants, “expert”
guide services, and vast animal markets.

Nearly all books come in the form of scrolls or folded paper
bindings. Preservationists and scribes are in high demand. Papermakers
constantly experiment with new types and qualities of paper. Secretive
alchemists try to create durable inks. Tomes are regarded with some suspicion,
except for the smallest pocket-style bindings. A larger book generally signals dangerous
and Elder Magicks not to be trifled with.

Nine years ago saw the most recent restoration and re-founding
of The City. Locals managed to oust the garrison from the Thasaidos Imperium. More importantly they quietly dealt with the Imperial
officials who’d set themselves up as overseers. The turmoil within the Imperium
made this a smart time to strike- before the local authorities could declare
independence and attempt to establish a new city dynasty. The new ‘founder’ Lucias Savant and his comrades restored
the office of the Archons. He did this in part because of the support given by Archon Ubmar. The Archon paid for a
majestic funeral when Savant died two years later.

No one is sure why information magic does not
operate in The City. There are other places in the world where certain kinds of
magic cease to function. But often those are tied to some obvious natural
phenomena (for example the absence of fire magic in the Ice Hind Reaches). The
absence- which is proof from scrying, divination, far-sight, post-cognition, prophecy,
and even- some say- the gaze of the gods- makes it valuable.

Nobility matters less in The City…but it still matters. Many
kind of nobles live here, which means their treatment depends on a
complicated system of relationships and contacts. They fall
into three categories. First are those of noble blood who are Friends of the
Archons. They possess some title- either from a foreign power or from one
of the many dynasties and lines of The City itself. More importantly,
they’re connected to one of the present three Archons. Alternately they may be
tied by blood to one of the couple of “fallen” Archon houses; this grants them
an air of legitimacy. These Archon Nobility (aka the Diamond Nobility) have the most social pull. Second are the wealthy with some title
or bloodline (earned or bought into). These are called the Gold Nobility and
they have a good deal of influence, even if they’re seen as less respectable.
Third are the Lead Nobility. These are nobles and noble houses who have fallen
on hard times. If they did not have some evidence or splinters of their once brilliant resources,
they would probably fall into the ranks of the general populace. They desperately try to raise themselves up. Lead Nobility get little respect,
except in courts of law where they often know how to pull rank.

Old reckonings break The City into historical districts,
with later additions based on the whim of the rulers. These district lines
often subdivide accepted “neighborhoods.” Each district is overseen by an
authority, known as a Sharl. These
persons supposedly carry responsibility for order and upkeep. More often they
dole, trade, and bargain these rights and duties to other agents and groups-
sub-contracting some tasks and being ‘gifted’ to give others free rein. It
makes for a patchwork mess. However truly repugnant and stupid Sharls run the
risk of crossing the Archons who can and will completely clear the decks if
someone upsets them.

Once the most potent and far-reaching empire in the world,
the Thasaidos Imperium is riven by a
civil war. The decline began years ago with Imperator Vazdrak’s increasing erratic decisions and refusal to
name a formal successor. Border provinces of the Empire began to realign
themselves and, as with The City, to break away from imperial authority. When
Vazdrak died a mad scramble for control began. Vazdrak’s son, Kaledrak, controls the heartlands of
the Thasaidos. Vazrak’s daughter, self-crowned as Empress Liasandras, holds sway over the vast span of the hundred Mirosel
Islands. They are challenged by former general Chaon Grek, a late adoptee into Vazdrak’s household. “Emperor”
Chaon commands the loyalty of the provincial forces in the eastern frontiers of
the Empire.

People come to The City from across the region, across the
seas, and across the Empires. Some come because they’ve heard that it is a free
city. That’s true in some ways, but with the added dangers of anarchy, rapmpant conspiracies, and a populace who often resent even the
best-intentions of authorities. Many come because they need a place to launch
plots from- piracy, revolution, espionage. Still others use the City their
starting point for dangerous expeditions into the ruins and dungeons of the
blasted lands beyond. The City needs all of these people- because more people
die here than are born each year. The machine of the city needs more bodies to keep
it going.

Strangely the City lacks any formal schools. This reaches back
into history and a strange series of edicts and restrictions on the
establishment of any formal centers of learning. Some suspect that it may be a
way to avoid organized revolution and prevent the gathering of large groups. What
has arisen is a system of tutors, underground libraries, and cult-based
training centers. The Archons enforce the rules about this- and anyone teaching
more than seven students at a sitting may find themselves in hot water. Hence
most guild and even magical teaching happens in small groups.

All races, save the Orcs, have an Ancient line. These folk
can be easily marked- taller, older, and with a more forceful presence. Few of
these Ancients remain. Most live in smaller enclaves far away from their
younger brethren lines. They often have a distinctly different culture and
outlook on the world- some of which comes from their much extended lifespan.
Many Ancients enclaves’ memories stretch back before the Ashsky War. Fears,
conspiracies, and bad blood plague most interactions between groups of Ancients
and the Young. The exception are the Gnome of Ringwane, where the Ancient
Gnomish Necromancers command all other gnomes.

While the City is a crossroads, it still lies off the beaten
path. It acts as a gateway to lands rarely traveled- the deserts and steppes
to the fallen empires. Things sometimes float down the river- suggesting that
beyond the deserts and mountains lie other realms perhaps. The broken lands
themselves hide many fragmented peoples and nations, clinging to the lands. An
overland passage leading to the borderlands of the Xylac Gatherings. But that travel is difficult and dangerous,
making it an unwelcome route for trade. On the other hand, the city has two
close neighbors by sea outside of the major empires. The island state of Ringwane is controlled by a cabal of
Gnomish magic users of power. The gnarled Ancient Gnomes command the land,
overseeing a new Gnomish overclass and in turn a supply of slaves drawn from
many regions. While many call the leaders of Ringwane Necromancers, they prefer
the term preservationists. The other nation lies to the north, separated by
high mountains and seeping marshes. This is Felgane, land of the Monster Lords. While the Felgani are human,
they command old talents allowing them control of many kinds of monsters. They
breed, create, and experiment with new beasts for labors and for wars. Some of
their techniques are magical, but mostly they’re skilled animal masters.

The Xylac Gatherings
lie to the south. Most often they’re simply called Xylac. These tribes and
nations of the Xylac draw from many races, though almost no Elves despite the
heritage of their gods. The lands of the Xylac are massive and wide-ranging,
including nearly all climate types. The people are primarily nomadic- with even
the cities built to be broken down and transported as necessary. Rulership of
the Xylac shifts and changes. When they are unified, they can be a potent
and dangerous force- travelling, raiding, and conquering across the seas.
Often, however, their own need for change and general instability means that they
are more scattered and divided.